Arts and culture

• The National Society of Film Critics names contemporary western film Nomadland as the recipient of 2020's National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film. (The Wrap)
• Thousands of Roman Catholic devotees attend Saturday masses organized in lieu of the cancelled annual procession of the Black Nazarene at the Quiapo Church in Manila. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• Sriwijaya Air Flight 182
  • Indonesian authorities lose contact with Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 shortly after take-off with 62 people onboard. The passenger plane, a Boeing 737, was en route to Pontianak, taking off from the capital Jakarta. (The Age)
• 2020–21 European windstorm season
  • Storm Filomena causes the death of two people from heavy rains in the province of Málaga and another two from hypothermia after a blizzard hits central Spain. The Mayor of Madrid requests the assistance of the Army as he considers the situation in the capital to be of "extreme gravity". (BBC News) (Europa Press)
• Ten newborn babies die in a hospital fire in western Maharashtra, India. The fire was supposedly caused by an electrical short circuit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that the news was "heart-wrenching". (DW)
• A nationwide blackout occurs in Pakistan, leaving more than 200 million people without power. Senator Faisal Javed Khan says that the blackout was apparently caused by a "sudden frequency drop in the power transmission system". Power is gradually being restored in some parts of the country. (BNO News)

Health and environment

• COVID-19 pandemic
  • COVID-19 pandemic in North America
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
      • COVID-19 pandemic in California
        • California reports a record 695 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative death toll in the state to 29,233. (KTLA-TV)
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota, Variant of Concern 202012/01
        • Minnesota reports its first five cases of the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that originated from the United Kingdom. The patients are aged 15 to 37. (KARE-TV)
      • The United States surpasses 22 million cases of COVID-19. (NBC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
      • COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec
        • A nighttime curfew takes effect in Quebec in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. (ABC News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico
      • Mexico reports a record 16,105 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of confirmed cases to 1,524,036. (Reuters)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
    • COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom
      • COVID-19 vaccination programme in the United Kingdom
        • Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. (The Daily Telegraph)
      • The United Kingdom surpasses 80,000 deaths and 3 million cases of COVID-19, becoming the fifth country to do so after the United States, Brazil, India, and Russia. (BBC News) (The Guardian)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Vatican City
      • Pope Francis confirms in an interview with Italian broadcaster Canale 5 that the vaccination campaign in Vatican City will begin next week and that he will receive the vaccine. (CNN) (Euronews)
      • Fabrizio Soccorsi, Pope Francis' personal physician, dies as a result of "complications due to COVID-19", according to Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. (Fox News)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in France, Variant of Concern 202012/01
      • France extends its curfew to eight departments, including Bouches-du-Rhône, which includes Marseille, where a 6:00 p.m. curfew has been imposed after 21 people tested positive for the new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that originated in the United Kingdom. (France 24)
  • COVID-19 pandemic in Asia
    • COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China
      • Chinese authorities tell 16 million residents in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai to stay home for the next seven days as Shijiazhuang suspends all public transport in order to combat the new outbreak of COVID-19. (Al Jazeera)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in India
      • The government announces that India will begin its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on January 16 with priority given to an estimated 30 million healthcare and frontline workers. (The Hindu)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, COVID-19 vaccine
      • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes the first Israeli to get a second dose of Pfizer's tozinameran vaccine as the country begins administering second doses of the vaccine to the public. (The Times of Israel)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Japan
      • Japan surpasses 4,000 deaths from COVID-19. (The Japan Times)
    • COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand
      • Thailand surpasses 10,000 cases of COVID-19. (Bangkok Post)

International relations

• Taiwan–United States relations
  • Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces that the United States will be lifting all restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, saying the "self-imposed" restrictions were introduced decades ago to appease the Chinese Communist Party government in mainland China. (BBC News)

Law and crime

• Aftermath of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol
  • Criminal charges brought in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol
    • The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia announces that Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli or "QAnon shaman"), who was photographed wearing horns during the Capitol 2021 storming of the United States Capitol|riot, has been arrested. Additionally, Adam Christian Johnson is also expected to face charges for carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern. (The Guardian) (TMZ)
    • West Virginia delegate Derrick Evans resigns a day after being arrested for illegally entering the United States Capitol. (West Virginia MetroNews)
  • Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announces that detachments of the Virginia National Guard and Virginia State Police will remain stationed at the United States Capitol through the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20. (WWBT-TV)
• Mass shootings in the United States
  • Three people are killed and four others injured in a shooting spree through several neighborhoods in the South Side area of Chicago, Illinois, as well as Evanston. The shooter, a 32-year-old man, was shot during a shootout with responding Evanston police officers and later died in a hospital. (WMAQ-TV)

Science and technology

• The Parler app is suspended indefinitely from the App Store by Apple Inc. Additionally, Amazon also announces that they will discontinue providing cloud services for Parler due to incitement of violence, which will go into effect on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. (CNN) (CNBC)

Sports

• 2020 NFL season, 2020–21 NFL playoffs
  • In American football, the Buffalo Bills win a playoff game for the first time since the 1995 season with a 27–24 win against the Indianapolis Colts. (The Guardian) (ESPN)